Tracadie, NB by night.
I should really be drawing right now, but I thought I'd post a note. My walk in the woods was soothing on Sunday. I saw a couple of partridge on the road, as well as signs of other wildlife (rabbit, bobcat, moose...) Our property has turned into a virtual nature refuge now that it's one of the few uncut woodlots around. Etched into the memory card of my digital camera are some shots I took this morning of a squirrel on the deck. He was trying to get into the bird feeders and so had scampered along one of the railings. This meant that when I approached him, he had the choice of either taking his chances with me or jumping down 8 feet onto concrete. He opted to sit still which let me snap some shots of him with the camera no more than two feet from his face. We also have a groundhog behind the house who is now quite the veteran. He's been around for a couple of years-- easily identifiable by his bum leg. The critter has come back to hobble around the backyard again this year and it almost seems like a shame to shoot him. (I can hear Colin saying, "Almost, eh?".)
On the Tube
The CBC is airing a show on Friday, titled "Screw The Vote", which seems to have ruffled the feathers of some columnists in the Times this morning. It appears that they believe it's sending the wrong message to young voters. The show is a rather sarcastic pitch to the 18- to 24-year-old demographic whose turnout rate in the 2000 election hovered around 1 out of 4 eligible voters. Now with an election looming for June according to insiders, people are wondering what it'll take to get the kids to the polls.
The critics were pretty harsh on the C.B.C. for choosing to air such a cynical piece- including some on the other side of the border (such as Rachel Marsden at the American Daily). We all know how elections work down there though. If we really wanted to follow their lead, there'd be a CBC show called "Screw Up the Vote".
Perhaps people should redirect their criticism since the low turnout is already a fact, completely oblivious to what this program may or may not say. Young voters I speak to tend to fall into two categories. They don't vote because they are either under-informed or over-informed.
Most high school students don't even study Canadian history or political science these days. Course like African History, Classical History, or European History are compulsory while Canadian History is oft times an elective. "We took that in junior high and already know everything!" they then whine, before stumbling over the year of confederation, our first prime minister, or how many provinces and territories exist in our former dominion.
Some kids really cut their teeth on it though and they fully comprehend things like Canada Steamship Lines, the sponsorship scandal, or the vicious omnipotency of the Liberal majority party whip. They've already figured out how useless their vote is-- and so do the columnists criticising the C.B.C. except that in their case they are jealous that Canada's youth have stumbled on this illumination earlier in life than they did and, tongue in cheek as the C.B.C. is presenting it, they're bitter that a competing media entity is helping youth along to that end, with government funding. Meanwhile their handlers, who have consolidated most of the private media in this country, are too busy sucking up to the P.M.O. and Ottawa to brave something so honestly jaded.
Curing youth apathy will rest with either boosting education, or whole-scale reform of the democratic process in this country. (To which point, I say get rid of parties and introduce Nunavut-style politics to the country.)
And for the record, I'm not voting. But that's because my residency status hasn't come back into effect yet. I'd have a greenlight for a fall election but the latest scuttlebutt say the writ will soon be dropped and the election will take place June 28. I guess I'll have to get back to drawing next Tuesday's political cartoon to project any influence I might have.
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